Mae West: More Laughs

MAE WEST came to the attention of Tinseltown ninety years ago in 1932. Step into the Time Machine with me for a long, leisurely ride. This is Part 39 of 68.
• • Mae West in Hollywood 1932 – 1943 • •
• • Mae West: Her one-liners are always good • •
• • Andy Goulding wrote: The one-liners are as good as always but there’s also an increased amount of character comedy, with more laughs coming from West’s perfunctory attempts to fit in amongst high society which give way almost immediately every time.

• • Andy Goulding wrote: There are also a few more unusual elements here, such as a Western prologue which explains neatly how Mae West finds her way into the world of the moneyed upper classes, and a set-piece which sees her dabble in opera.
• • Andy Goulding wrote: Whether “Goin’ to Town” works for you will depend on how susceptible you are to Mae West’s charms in the first place.
• • Andy Goulding wrote: Clearly, at this stage, I’m extremely taken with her and so “Goin’ to Town” felt quite underrated to me. A cheerful little pleasure of a film.
• • Mae West: Was “Goin’ to Town” underrated? • • …
• • This will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Blueprint Reviews U.K.; posted on Friday, 3 December 2021.
• • On Saturday, 10 November 1951 • •
• • "Diamond Lil," after a regional tour, returned to the Broadway Theatre for a victory lap. Gus Jordan's Gay Nineties saloon on the Bowery was established again on The Great White Way beginning on 14 September 1951.

• • Two months later, Mae West and her gaudy retinue took their final bows on Saturday, 10 November 1951 after this "last stand" on Broadway — — yes, sixty-seven performances.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Los Angeles District Attorney Buron Fitts indirectly inspired one of Mae West's most quoted lines. Too busy to meet her at the railroad station, Fitts sent over the handsomest deputy he could find, ordering him to give her a big kiss, saying "This is from Buron" — — to which West replied: "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?"
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Half-starved women can’t have no life in them any more than a half-starved dog."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on "Diamond Lil" quoted Mae West.
• • "Diamond Mae" • •
• • Thyra Samter Winslow wrote: Mae West says that people want dirt in plays, so I give 'em dirt. Miss West is secretive, especially about her past and family. When "Diamond Lil" closes, Mae will star in another of her plays, "Men."  ...
• • Source: The New Yorker; published on Saturday, 10 November 1928
• • The evolution of 2 Mae West plays that keep her memory alive • •
• • A discussion with Mae West playwright LindaAnn LoSchiavo — —
• • http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-woman-new-york-city-interview-lindaann-loschiavo/
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 18th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eighteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 5,100 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eighteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 5,117th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.

• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1935 • •
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Mae West, Naughty, Naughty

In 1933 MAE WEST inspired more than one columnist to analyze her. Our feature from yesterday is continued here, the second installment.
• • "Here goes on Mae West" [Part 2] • • 
• • We are scared to death of being considered "good" — — most of us.  So the title: "I'm No Angel" starts a provocative fellow-feeling of guilt. 
• • Then human nature being what it is, made up of the silly things we all do sometime because emotions run away with our heads, most of the audience had "a fellow feeling" for the five or six or seven men (how many were there?) that the heroine of the picture had played for easy marks. The situations were old as the first town established in this world; obvious as pop eyes, and yet good hokum because goodness knows it required no celebration to know what it was all about!
• • More than that, the canny Mae realizes that only within the past quarter of a century have we taken conversation out of swaddling clothes and called sex "Sex.'' So in interviews, she did not put any damper on the idea that, in her pictures, the theatre-goer would see SEX. The fans indirectly or subconsciously had the hunch that this was going to be "naughty, naughty, boys."
• • "Is Old Story" • •
• • Well, for myself, I can't think of that picture as being very naughty, naughty. Nor being so terrifically based upon sex except as all living is. Where one finds men and women, one finds demonstration of practically everything seen in "I'm No Angel," except that frequently it is much more dangerous in some presentations because it is not so obvious. Mae West's grandstand play for sex reminds me (and I think it should remind all adults) of the artificially built up romantic sunsets or patriotic finales.  . . .
• • Mae West's latest motion picture might have had me worried a bit.  . . .
• • This is Part 2 of a lengthy feature. It continues tomorrow.
• • Source: Article (page 3) in The Ironwood Times (Ironwood, Michigan); published on Friday, 15 December  1933.
• • On Thursday, 16 December 1937 • •
• • It was on Thursday, 16 December 1937 that Variety ran an article about Mae West's controversial appearance on NBC in the Garden of Eden Skit: "Educator calls radio program a home menace."
• • On Thursday, 16 December 1937 • •
• • An article "Religious Leader Warns US Board on 'Risque' Radio Plays" was printed in The Los Angeles Herald on Thursday, 16 December 1937.  A never ending Niagara of condemnation from the religious righteous — — that is, the same groups that either condoned or covered up the outrageous priest pedophilia for decades. Sheesh.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Cara Williams began using her talent as a moppet impersonating Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, and Mae West and providing a voice for the Porky Pig cartoons.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I did not change my way of life. I harmed no one. I had a philosophy, an idea of how to live fully and in my way.  I believed in it as fully and as strongly as I believed in being an American."
• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • The Brooklyn Daily Eagle mentioned Mae West.
• • "Mae's Homecoming" • •
• • The Brighton Theater, where she made her first big-time splash in vaudeville, reopens Tuesday as a legitimate playhouse with Mae West in "Diamond Lil." Charles G. Martin is one of her three leading men.  . . .
• • Source: Item in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle; published on Sunday, 8 July 1951
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 11th anniversary • •    
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eleven years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,300 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3334th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.

• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • costumed as Diamond Lil in 1951 • •
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Mae West: Prevention

The headline read: "MAE WEST Has Other Things To Do." This amusing news item was published in Tasmania on Monday, 9 July 1951.

• • New York, Sunday — Mae West would like to accept an Australian offer, but commitments will prevent her from going. She made this clear when commenting on a report that she and Sally Rand (strip-tease artist) had been asked to state the terms on which they would fly to Australia to head a parade in the role of Lady Godiva during Jubilee celebrations at Dubbo, New South Wales.

• • Source: Article by Australian Associated Press, printed by The Mercury (on page 3); published Monday, 9 July 1951.

• • John Indrisano [1 November 1905 — 9 July 1968] • •

• • Mae West gave her 32-year-old lover a bit part in "Every Day's a Holiday" [1937].

• • Born to a poor family and bred in a tough section of East Boston, John Indrisano was determined to earn big money and make something of himself one day. During a career that lasted from 1924 — 1934, he boxed as an amateur and then turned pro. He entered films via the sponsorship of several Hollywood sports fans, i.e., notably Mae West.

• • John Indrisano hung himself in his San Fernando Valley home on 9 July 1968.  He was 62. So sad.

• • On Friday, 9 July 1937 • •

• • It took two years from the time a Milwaukee civil servant discovered Mae West's marriage license and then for Frank Wallace to hold court with the news media, offering to tell all about his naughty nuptial night in April 1911 with a fellow vaudevillian — — whereupon Mae issued a jet-stream of cloudy denials such as "I was too young to get married in 1911" and "Never heard of the guy."  When the movie queen admitted (at last) she had walked down the aisle, every newspaper from here to kingdom come printed an article.  Here's one.

• • "Miss Mae West Now Admits Marriage. NEVER lived with Husband."

• • Los Angeles (USA) July 8 — Miss Mae West, the screen actress, who for many years has denied that she has ever been married, has now admitted that Mr. Frank Wallace, a vaudeville artist, became her husband 26 years ago.

• • Her statement is the outcome of a lawsuit brought by Mr. Wallace to compel her to admit the relationship, and to divide their joint property, which, he alleges, exceeds 100,000 dollars (£Aust 25,000).  Miss West denied that she had ever lived with him, and alleged that he subsequently "remarried" without obtaining a divorce from her.

• • Source: Article transmitted by The Sydney Morning Herald (on page 12) Friday, 9 July 1937.

• • Save the Date: Thursday, August 16th • •

• • Thursday, 16 August 2012 will be the next Mae West Tribute in Manhattan and the evening affair will start at 6:30 pm at 155 Mulberry Street.  This year Mae-mavens will enjoy an indoor event (ahhh, air conditioning), music written by Mae West's Italian husband will be played, and attendees will be seated. At the Reception, Italian wine and light refreshments will be served. The public is invited.
• • Mae West was born in Brooklyn, NY on Thursday, 17 August 1893.

• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West said: "Men, make every woman love you — — but don't love every woman. Pet them, like a tabby cat. They love it."

• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An article in The Titusville Herald mentioned Mae West.

• • The Associated Press wrote: ... Miss West is scheduled to give a deposition in the office of Frank Wallace's attorney. Previously Miss West, on advice of counsel, refused to vouchsafe any information save her name and address in depositions. She faced a contempt of court citation. In the meantime, the original suit Wallace filed here was thrown out of court on the grounds it was filed under the wrong statute. ...

• • Source: Article: "Mae West Finally Admits Marriage to Frank Wallace" written by A.P. and reprinted by The Titusville Herald on page 1; published on Thursday, 8 July 1937

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2357th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.

 

• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1951 • •
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